my views on the local news in Minnesota

February 20, 2009

Freedom vs. Tyranny

Many things lately have been causing me to wonder whether this is the same country I grew up in. The most recent occurred at our town hall, where two township officials discussed whether the township should take away building rights from property owners under certain circumstances.

Jeff Otto, chair of our board of supervisors, expressed the view that a building right is a significant part of the value of a property, and once a building has been erected on a site, the right should be considered as having been vested and not subject to forfeiture.

Ken Olstad, a planning commission member, argued that it's just like anything else: if you buy some stock in a company, you have to understand that it can go "poof."

For any reader who finds this reasoning compelling, I'd like to explain why I find it extremely frightening.

These people, whether elected or appointed, are entrusted with the job of serving the people in a way that complies with the basic fundamental guarantees of the Bill of Rights, not just the more modern laws like the Wetlands Conservation Act.

So what's the difference between somebody losing their shirt in the market and somebody losing their rights to the government? If you understand basic fairness, you would know that the difference between the market and government is that government imposes its will by force and the market is no more than a conglomeration of people, all of whom are trying to make a good deal, and none of whom have the legal right to compel you to buy anything.

Nor do they have sheriffs, police, or prisons.

This is an important difference, one that caused our founders to enshrine the Bill of Rights into our constitution. There needs to be something to temper the power of government. Otherwise, we get tyranny, which is what our founders were trying to avoid.

And another thing. There's that word "inalienable" in the Declaration of Independence.

The government of the United States is the result of a revolution in thought. It was founded on the principle that all persons have equal rights, and that government is responsible to, and derives its powers from, a free people. To Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers, these ideas were not just a passing intellectual fad, but a recognition of something inherent in the nature of man itself. The very foundation of government, therefore, rests on the inalienable rights of the people and of each individual composing their mass. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, is the fundamental statement of what government is and from what source it derives its powers.

If our governmental officials do not understand and respect these principles, we get the tyranny this country was founded to reject.